So on Tuesday the Interphone report is finally to be published and I ask myself how stupid do the mobile phone operators who largely funded this study think the public are? The study leaked in today’s Sunday Times says the following:
“that only those in the “heaviest user” category are at increased risk of developing glioma tumours, a type of brain cancer.’
That’s alright then I hear you say, I’m not a heavy user. You might just be wrong about that let’s look at what the WHO Interphone report means by heavy usage. Anyone who regularly uses their phone for more than 30 minutes a day is a heavy user. Well 10 years ago that was rare as it would have cost you around £180 per month to do so and if you rang cross network at up to 70p a minute, a lot more still and so thirty minutes a day would have been rare then but when reading the report you need to remember it began 15 years ago and inexplicably this report has been finished but sat upon for a whole five years. A competitive monthly tariff in 2010 will cost you £26 for 900 minutes plus as much time as you like on the same network and Skype to Skype calls are free of charge.
It would seem the document is worded quite deliberately in a way that won’t alarm the general public and doesn’t even advocate caution.
The World Health Organisation admitted that more research will be needed because of their broad categorisation of heavy phone use and that those under the age of 30 were excluded from the study. Even though any scientist worth his salt will tell you the young, particularly those under 18 years are in far greater danger than those in their thirties due to the developing skull of the child offering far less of a barrier than that of the developed adult and the fact that almost every teenager I know seems to have had their cell phone welded permanently to their head and sleeps with it on or under the pillow at night.
The report defines a “regular” cell phone user as someone making one call a week over a six-month period.
The average cell phone use of those in the study was between 120 minutes and 150 minutes a month. How many kids do you know who only use their phones for less than four minutes a day incoming and outgoing, remember the 900 minutes they get for £26 takes no account of the free stuff or the incoming calls.
In summary this report seems to be trying to hide the naked truth. Ask yourself why and then ask do I want to play cell phone cancer roulette any longer? Do I think it’s a good idea to allow my child’s brain to be regularly subjected to cell phone radiation or not?
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